Articles

Articles for Research & Practice in Assessment should be research-based and include concrete examples of practice and results in higher education assessment.  The readers of Research & Practice in Assessment are associated with myriad institutional types and have an understanding of basic student learning and assessment practices.  Articles for publication will be selected based on their degree of relevance to the journal’s mission, compliance with submission criteria, quality of research methods and procedures, and logic of research findings and conclusions.  Approximately forty percent of submissions are accepted for publication.

Learning Improvement Corner

The Learning Improvement Corner offers researchers and practitioners an opportunity to showcase successful learning improvement initiatives, using assessment as a tool to demonstrate the success of the initiative (e.g., by measuring baseline learning and subsequently documenting improvement). Submissions that highlight strategies to connect assessment with curricular innovations and focus on creative collaborations across campus will also be considered. Authors that wish to be considered for the LIC should indicate as such in the cover letter accompanying the manuscript submission.

Reviews

Reviews (book, media, or software) are significant scholarly contributions to the education literature that evaluate publications in the field.  Persons submitting reviews have the responsibility to summarize authors’ works in a just and accurate manner.  A quality review includes both description and analysis.  The description should include a summary of the main argument or purpose and overview of its content, methodology, and theoretical perspective.  The analysis of the book should consider how it contrasts to other works in the field and include a discussion of its strengths, weaknesses and implications.  Judgments of the work are permitted, but personal attacks or distortions are not acceptable as the purpose of the review is to foster scholarly dialogue amongst members of the assessment community. The RPA Editor reserves the right to edit reviews received for publication and to reject or return for revision those that do not adhere to the submission guidelines.

Special Features

Each issue of Research & Practice in Assessment highlights the work of a noted researcher or assessment professional in a manner that aims to extend the scholarly dialogue amongst members of the assessment community.  Special Features are invited by the Board of Editors and often address the latest work of the author.

Statement of Ethics

Content submitted to Research & Practice in Assessment should be original, and should not infringe copyright or contain knowingly inaccurate statements or findings. Proper acknowledgment or citation of others’ works should be given. Research involving human subjects should be performed under the guidance and approval of an appropriate institutional ethics committee or review board. Research suspected of being carried out unethically will be rejected by the Editors.